Welcome to Delight in Grace. The Teaching Ministry of Rich Powell. pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. Deuteronomy 6 holds one of the most well known commands in the Bible. You shall love the LORD your God, with all your heart, with all your soul.
and with all your might. It calls us to keep His words on our hearts. These commands are far more than a simple duty. To love our God fully is to be connected to the one we were made for. our very source of life and purpose.
without him We're nothing. God knows that without him mankind cannot flourish. And with him We find our soul's deepest need. and highest good. As Augustine wrote, Our hearts are restless until they find their rest in Him.
Let's listen in. Our scripture reading this morning. It's from Deuteronomy chapter 6. Verses 4 through 15. Please follow along with me as I read the scriptures.
Hear, O Israel, The Lord our God. The Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart. And with all your soul. And with all your might.
And these words that I command you today It shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children. And she'll talk of them. When you sit in your house, And when you walk by the way, And when you lie down... And when you rise.
You shall bind them as a sign on your hand. And this should be frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. And when the Lord your God brings you into the land that he swore to your fathers. to Abraham.
to Isaac. And to Jacob. to give you. with great and good cities. that you did not build.
and houses full of all good things. That you did not fill. And cisterns that you did not dig, and vineyards and olive trees that you did not plant. And you'll eat. In our full Then take care lest you forget the Lord.
who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. It is the Lord your God. You shall fear him. Him you shall serve, and by his name You shall swear. You shall not go after other gods.
the gods of the peoples who are around you. For the Lord your God. In your midst. is a jealous God. Lest the anger of the Lord your God be kindled against you.
And he destroy you from off the face of the earth. This is God's word. Mr. Pray. Father.
We are comforted. By knowing that the same God In the beginning of the scriptures. The God of Abraham and Isaac and of Jacob. The loving God, the merciful God. Long suffering.
It's the same God, Lord. That we have today. Thank you. that you continue to pursue us. Thank you, Lord, we also have a church.
who teaches us these truths.
Now please, Lord. Clear our minds and quiet our hearts. As Pastor brings us to the message this morning. In Jesus' precious name. Amen.
Thank you, Scott. Um Would you stand with me this morning? We're going to quote the Shema. I believe it's next. Here we go.
Let's recite it together. Here, O Israel, the Lord our God. The Lord is mine. Ye shall love the Lord your God with all your heart. and with all your soul and with all your might.
And these words that I command you today. Yeah. You shall teach them diligently to your children. And you shall honor them when you sit in your house. And when you walk by the way, And when you lie down.
And when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand. and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house. And on your gates.
Please be seated. Deuteronomy chapter 6 is our focus today. The title of it is You Shall Love the Lord Your God. This is in the second part, the second section of our study in Deuteronomy. The second section is called Is a Call to Faithfulness.
Chapter 6, You Shall Love the Lord your God. He begins in the first three verses. with faithfulness and promise, the call to faithfulness and promise. We're called the faithful. It's because God is faithful.
And it is the Lord your God who is one. And because God is one, we serve one, there is one God, and we serve one God, therefore you should have a single focus and devotion. to God because He is one. This is to be the character of God's people. We are to be a people known by our singular de Devotion to God.
How are we doing? That should be our resolve this morning as we leave. Parents? Mom's dads children. Grandparents Devoted to God, a singular devotion to God.
And it says, Hear, O Israel, the word Shema. It means to hear. And to hear doesn't mean just auditorily receiving information or a sound. to here there's nuance implied in this. It means to receive and respond.
Have you really heard? It means you have received and you respond. to what God has made known. And with this is promise. Find a couple of them in verse 3.
It's the promise of well-being. When we receive and respond to God's self-disclosure. It brings well-being, satisfaction, as God promised his people Israel. But it also brings longevity.
So, not only does it bring satisfaction, it brings security. Be careful, I'm not teaching the prosperity gospel here unless you define prosperity in the right way. You define success in the right way. What does success mean? It means to function according to design.
What were you designed for? You were designed to know God and enjoy Him. And when you do that, you are successful. And this is what God is promising.
So, what we have before us today as we enter into the Shema It is the greatest command Jesus was asked. in the New Testament, and they asked him trying to test him, right, what is the greatest commandment? And he said, it is this, to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. And the second is like it, love your neighbor as yourself. And here it is.
This is the Gray's command. As Moses is once again reiterating it to the second generation of the people of Israel that has come out of Egypt. After they've been in the wilderness for 40 years, and now they are about to cross over into the promised land that God promised them. We have to keep in mind: this is history. There's nothing mythological about any of this.
This is history. And why is God doing this? Because God purposes to bring Messiah into the world. Messiah who will redeem us. to himself.
God does the work through Messiah, Jesus Christ, to reconcile us to himself. That is why God is doing these things. And so, this people, Israel, God's chosen people, His covenant people, God says, You are my people. And based on what you know of me, here is what I expect from you. Verse 4: Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. This is the heart of the Shema. And who is the object of our love? It is God himself. You shall love the Lord your God.
He is the object of your love, the object of your adoration. The object of your worship. This is the greatest command, and all others flow from this one command. And it's what sets it apart because It's not just a command to do something. There is person involved.
We are commanded to love the person. The one who is the very point of our existence. And so this law, historically this law is what sets the whole Mosaic law apart from all of its contemporaries. Because of this very command right here. Let's consider the demonstration.
of this command, the demonstration. The demonstration of this command comes through undivided loyalty to him. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart. with all your soul. And with all your might, and these words that I command you today shall be on your heart.
Heart. The undivided loyalty to him. is a commitment. It is a devotion to him. Love Which is commitment Think about this.
is meaningless. without testing. It's meaningless if it's never tested. This is why in the garden God set one prohibition for Adam and Eve. One.
And we know the story, don't we? And what did they prove? They ended up loving themselves. more than they loved God. Hence all the brokenness of humanity.
But this is why, when you attend a wedding, when you got married, or when we officiate a wedding. There are what? Vows. And those vows are actually vows to, I am vowing, I am promising. I make a vow that I will be committed, devoted to you and you alone.
Why do they need to exchange vows? because it's guaranteed that that relationship is going to be tested. You've been listening to Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell, pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. To hear this message and others, check out www.delightandgrace.com To discover how to live by grace, tune in with us on weekdays at 10 a.m. Yeah.
